Sunday, October 30, 2011

When first released in 1979 the Olympus XA was a marvel of compact and feature-rich design. At just 2 ½ x 4 x 1 ½ inches—sized to fit comfortably in hand or pocket—the XA was the smallest, full-frame 35mm camera available.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Whether you’re using a lower speed film in daylight, trying to maximize your depth of field in a landscape, or just setting up the camera for an exposure at night, sooner or later you’re going to start pushing the limits of your film’s light gathering ability. As light becomes more scarce, the silver halide grains residing in your film will be less uniformly struck by photons, causing a steep drop in density after a few seconds of needed exposure. This exponentially diminishing response to low light levels is more popularly known as a film’s reciprocity failure. Not all films are created equal, and some will respond better than others, but here’s what you can typically expect...

Friday, October 28, 2011

Kaitlin Trataris is a senior at San Diego State University. She’s double majoring in Fine Arts, concentrating on film photography and Women's Studies. She started shooting film at a young age, experimenting with her father's old Chinon E-40 he bought in Europe during the 1980's.

She relayed to me via e-mail this summer that she’s set up a darkroom. She said “the endless possibilities of darkroom printing was so creatively stimulating I spent hours researching techniques and experimenting with my own.”

Thursday, October 27, 2011

A few months ago I was chosen as a winner in the Polaroid Packtastic Giveaway over on the Film Photography Podcast. Michael sent me a beautiful, well-loved Polaroid 100 camera. It needs a bit of tending every now and then, but I don't mind showing it the extra love that it deserves. From the day I opened the package, I've kept this camera close by my side. It's one thing to get a new camera, but it's even better when someone hand picks a camera that they think you'll enjoy and they send it to you (at no cost). My excitement radiated as I tore open the box, read the enclosed note, and carefully opened the camera. And now, there's no turning back.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Here at The Film Photography Podcast, listener questions are a big part of what we do. You ask, then we do our darnedest to get you the answer you seek. For at least one out of every ten of these questions, we’re bound to get a question like, “What’s a good camera for somebody just starting out in film?” or “What 35mm camera should I get?”. Though the choices are plentiful, there is one camera that has quickly made its way to the top of our recommendations list, the Pentax K1000.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Simply put ‘Found film’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_film) (also known as ‘forgotten film’) is film that you sometimes find hiding or ‘living’ in old cameras at thrift stores, car boot sales or yard sales. I say living because some of them have a form of fungus or mold on the film emulsion, as you can see in the picture below. Together with base fog caused by aging of the film and/or exposure to heat and light it destroys any latent image on the film.

Monday, October 24, 2011

I don't know about you folks but some days I'm stuck behind a desk doing paperwork. Perhaps you're stuck in a classroom somewhere. Regardless of where you're stuck, a much needed mid-afternoon break came by way of e-mail today. I'd like to share with you.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Well, it's that time of year again. Schools everywhere are getting back into full swing, and droves of new students are hitting the books and loading up their film cameras. But before rifling through that first roll of film and rushing to get it processed, let's go over the basics of your school's darkroom.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Much has been written elsewhere about the looting of the German camera factory tooling by the Soviets at the end of World War II so suffice to say that coming into Germany from an Easterly direction in the waning months of the war the Soviets found themselves in possession of the Contax factory in Dresden.

Friday, October 21, 2011

For the past year playing around with pack cameras and even some"Hasselroids" (Hasselblad Polaroids), I've been experimenting with whatever film I could get my hands on. The list is short, but thanks to the folks at Fuji, The Impossible Project, and even here at the FPP Store, the options are plentiful, from color, black and white, and even some specialty films. But above them all, my #1 favorite pack film has been Polaroid Sepia. It's not the easiest film to shoot, being rated at 1500 ASA, but when you get it right, man do those shots shine!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

"I read review after review of the different cameras that Nikon had to offer, and finally I settled on the Nikon FE2 as my replacement camera. This review goes over the factors that influenced my decision."